This year’s sold out Splendour In The Grass and its 100-strong 2014 lineup are all set to kick off this July, but unfortunately for fans in South Australia, the three-day music festival’s sister event, Spin Off Festival, has been cancelled.

The Adelaide-based Spin Off Festival, which first debuted in 2012, won’t be returning this year “due to scheduling conflicts and international demands on artists,” as a post on the event’s Facebook page reveals.

“We tried to book a lot of Splendour’s line-up but they just weren’t able to play,” says promoter Craig Lock, of 5/4 Entertainment, detailing the festival’s cancellation in an interview with Rip It Up.

“The main reason for that is there are other international festivals in the week before and the week after [Splendour] which have been growing in size over the years. [Artists] are getting really big offers to play these events – and they’re big events – and our offers for an Adelaide event, which is much smaller, are not in the same ball park. So it’s impossible for us to compete.”

Those competing festivals the 5/4 promoter refers to include Canada’s Osheaga Festival, France’s Musilac, UK’s Wilderness Festival, and Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival – all of which feature bands also booked for this year’s Splendour. “It’s not that this event is an unsuccessful event… it’s just been very difficult to physically make it happen this year.”

Making Splendour-billed acts “hang around in Australia for an extra week at that time of year is a big ask,” Mr Lock adds, describing the winter period as a low peak season compared to the rest of the globe swinging into their respective summer festival season.

“It’s not that this event is an unsuccessful event, and it’s not that we don’t want to do it – we do want to do it – it’s just been very difficult to physically make it happen this year,” he adds.

5/4 Entertainment and Splendour In The Grass organisers are planning for the event’s return for 2015 by “potentially moving [Spin Off] to be on the same weekend as Splendour,” as Lock tells Rip It Up. 

Last year’s Spin Off Festival featured international headliners Of Monsters And Men and Passion Pit, along with Aussie favourites like Chet Faker, Dune Rats, Jungle Giants, and Snakadaktal (RIP), playing across two stages at Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre the week following Splendour In The Grass.

The inaugural Spin Off Festival lineup in 2012 took place at Wayville Showgrounds with a lineup featuring Lana Del Rey, Kimbra, Band Of Skulls, Last Dinosaurs, DZ Deathrays, The Rubens, and more.

(Photo: Sandy Hancock. Source: Spin Off Festival 2013 Tone Deaf Gallery)

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